DAY 8: THE WHALE
TRAVEL LOG ENTRY 8: HVALSEY CHURCH
Hvalsey ruins - not beaten yet!
The third location we had chosen to film was Hvalsey Church-ruin, beautiful and remote, on the banks of yet another fjord. Hvalsey boasts the largest, best-preserved Norse church ruins in Greenland. I felt so fortunate to be on this journey. I just wished the rest of my family could have been here to experience the exceptional northern daylight that makes everything crystal clear – even over long distances.
Hvalsey is also known as Whale Island, and we almost got into real trouble here. A whale came up for air very close to our boat, and Storch had to swerve rapidly to avoid a collision. Hit a whale in Greenland and you get hit by high fines and everlasting heartbreak.
There it was - all was well!
Hvalsey church (which today is surprisingly intact), was built by Norsemen in the late 10th century. Initially, the settlers worshipped the Norse Gods, but when Christianity arrived (in around the year 1,000), they swapped sides and began building churches. About 10-14 parish churches were erected here.
One of the most surprising things I spotted at Hvalsey wasn’t underfoot, it was on the wing. Pairs of ravens were flying along the mountainsides, making the creepy squawking sounds they’re so famous for. In Norse mythology, the god Odin had a pair of these birds - Huginn (meaning ‘thought’) and Muninn (meaning "memory"). And they flew all over Midgard spying for him.
His partner’s not far off!
I’ve never really noticed these birds flying in pairs in Denmark. Capturing their flight was a tricky business, but in the end, Theis managed to track them for a while. With the day’s recordings in the bag, we made our way back to Narsaq Hotel for dinner and one more mission: to see Greenland's famous Northern Lights.
Norse Mythology offers a colourful explanation for this phenomenon: the god Odin and his brothers Vili and Vee killed Ymir (the very first Jotun) to stop him from conceiving too many giants, who might attack the Aesir gods. When Ymir died, his skull became the sky and his eyelashes became Midgaard. And his eyebrows? Well, they turned into the very things we wanted to see before leaving this magical place: the Northern Lights.
Looking for magic
Storch dropped us off at Narsarsuaq harbour and, equipped with warm clothes, heavy blankets and a bottle of Kraken rum (absolutely essential!), we headed for a dark sky area. We waited very patiently for the great swathes of green and purple, but as it turned out, we only glimpsed a stationary spot on the horizon. It was way too far off to see with the naked eye. If we‘d already been sharing the bottle of rum, we probably wouldn’t have seen it at all!
Thanks to Theis’s photosensitive camera we did get some footage to take home with us. We celebrated this with a few shots of rum and went to bed feeling fairly pleased. The final day of filming was almost upon us…
A magical eruption at Narsarsuaq.